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The intensification of the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic in Germany could take weeks, and it is very likely that a new, more contagious version of the virus identified in the United Kingdom has arrived, said Robert Koch, director of the National Institute of Public Health (RKI). ), in Berlin on Tuesday.
In his report, Lothar Wieler emphasized that Germany was in the worst phase of the epidemic to date and that the spread of the virus could only be stopped by reducing contact with the risk of infection. Therefore, everyone should spend the holidays in the closest family circle possible and avoid travel.
Difficult weeks are coming, let’s not make them even more difficult, said the RKI president. He noted that the tightening of restrictions in early December has not yet led to a reversal of the trend, the number of new infections and deaths from the epidemic continues to rise and the burden on the health system has reached a critical level.
Also, not only are intensive care units starting to fill up, other wards are “ less and less bed-free ” and many hospitals have switched to emergency mode as more and more doctors become infected with the new type of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), said the expert.
He also suggested that a much more contagious mutation in SARS-CoV-2 identified in the UK could have made its way to Germany. There is no data on this yet, but there is a very high probability that the virus variant entered the country undetected, Lothar Wieler said.
According to RKI data on Tuesday, there have been 19,528 infections in the last 24 hours. This is a 35 percent increase from 14,432 a week earlier. Along with the new cases, SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in the bodies of more than one and a half million people – 1,530,180.
731 deaths were reported in one day in relation to the disease caused by the virus (Covid-19). The death toll from the epidemic amounted to 27,006 in Germany.
The number of people in need of intensive care for Covid-19 increased from 49 to 5,216 in one day, according to the summary of the professional organization of intensive care and accident care (DIVI) this Tuesday. 52 percent (2,726 patients) need mechanical ventilation. According to the DIVI report, 26,806 intensive care beds are operated nationwide, of which 4,768 are free.
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